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South Sound to the Capitol

Day 42 · Completed

West Olympia

Thurston County, Washington (approximate)

Eleven warm miles toward Olympia, and Adrian and Izzy below the Capitol

This day on the route

Date
The day
Walking
Walked
11 miles

Day 42, October 18: 11 miles walked from Kamilche toward Olympia. Her journal does not name where she stopped; the stop is shown 3.8 miles short of the Capitol, the distance she walked on October 20.

Route overview, not turn-by-turn directions.

Gouache view of the Washington State Capitol dome and columned stone facade, framed by autumn trees, green lawn and an empty stone path.
The Washington State Capitol campus, where she met Adrian and Izzy that evening. Illustration.

On October 18 Jeana walked 11 warm miles from Kamilche toward Olympia, leaving 3.8 miles for the finish, and met Adrian and Izzy at the Capitol that evening.

She has been blessed with warmer weather than normal for the whole journey, and the high that Sunday was 61 degrees. Two women, each with an affectionate little dog in the car, turned around on her last two walking days to offer her a lift, and each took a picture of her QR code.

She also found two tiny wrenches by the roadside, one each day, and gave them to Lori, who runs Tools for Teens, a program that gives high school seniors in automotive classes the tools to start their careers.

When she finished her 11 miles, Lori was there with an iced latte, and drove her to see the last stretch of the route. At the Capitol, by the switchbacks of the path from the park below, they met Adrian and Izzy, who were excited by the story of the walk and the right ages to join NMDP.

From the road

Eleven warm miles, two tiny wrenches for Lori’s Tools for Teens, and Adrian and Izzy below the Capitol

She was up early to get ready for the day’s 11-mile walk, and she felt fortunate to be carrying the light pack again. She has been blessed with warmer weather than normal for this region for the whole journey: it is getting very cold at night, but the daytime temperatures have been unusually high, and she has walked in the rain only five times, far fewer than she expected. She had read that the strong El Niño now under way is bringing warmer and drier weather than usual to the Pacific Northwest, and the day bore that out. The high was 61 degrees, which made for a very pleasant walk.

She wants to highlight two women who stopped to offer her a lift on her last two walking days. Each had an adorable, affectionate little dog in the car, and each turned around and stopped to offer her a ride. When she explained that she was walking to enroll potential stem cell donors, they each took a picture of her QR code. Taking a moment to check on someone shows genuine care and concern, she says, and it is an expression of our shared responsibility for one another.

Something else happened on those last two days. On the first, she found an itty-bitty wrench by the roadside, picked it up and put it in her pocket, and when she finished the walk and Lori picked her up, she gave it to her. The next day she found another tiny wrench on the roadside, and took that one to Lori too.

It meant something, because Lori runs a program called Tools for Teens, which gives high school seniors in automotive classes the tools to begin careers in automotive repair. It is a much-needed program: the tools are too expensive for the students, but without them they can’t start their first job. It is a classic example, they say, of the bootstrap paradox.

When she finished her 11 miles, Lori was there with an iced latte; they had kept in touch by text, so Lori knew roughly when she would arrive. Then Lori drove her around so that they would know where to go for Monday’s radio interview, and to see the last stretch of the route, ending at the Washington State Capitol.

At the Capitol they stopped to look at the switchbacks of the walking path as it climbs Capitol Hill from the park below, and there they met an amazing couple, Adrian and Izzy. They were very excited by the story of the walk, and they were the right ages to join NMDP, between 18 and 35. Jeana was moved by their passionate response to the walk’s life-saving work.

Afterwards Lori took her for a rice bowl at Miso, one of her favourite places to eat in Olympia. Jeana was so tired, and ready for a good sleep.

Her host that night was Lori, in Shelton.

It is an expression of our shared responsibility for one another.

Jeana Moore
Tall, straight conifer trunks rise through a sunlit forest.Water and a far shore of evergreens seen through trees and a broken snag, under a blue sky with white clouds.A moss-covered trunk leans up into evergreen boughs and branches of yellowing leaves.A tidal flat of brown marsh grass leads to calm water and a forested ridge, framed by a leafy tree and a bare one.A shallow channel winds through tidal flats past a stranded log under a wide blue sky.A Kennedy Creek Natural Area Preserve sign in the woods, reading No access beyond this point, No dogs and No dumping.Mossy tree trunks stand among ferns and yellow maple leaves in a shaded forest.A grassy clearing in autumn colours opens beneath tall evergreens.A two-lane highway with a wide shoulder and a guardrail runs between tall evergreens under a clear sky.A lake glimpsed between tree trunks and autumn branches, with forested hills on the far side.A calm lake framed by overhanging evergreen boughs, with a line of trees along the far shore.Rippled water stretches toward a wooded shore under power lines and streaky white clouds.
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Still water mirrors evergreens and dry reeds along the bank, with bare branches reaching in from the left.A cluster of evergreens and golden brush reflected almost perfectly in still water.A close view of two bright blue five-petalled flowers with white centres among green leaves.Seen from behind, Jeana walks the shoulder of a wooded bend in her yellow vest, with the QR code sign on her pack, as a car comes around the curve.Jeana in her yellow vest walks toward the camera along the shoulder of a curving road beside a wooded hillside.A woman in a white jacket and a man in a red shirt and cap stand beside a bicycle at a lookout above the water, with mountains in the distance.Far along a curving, tree-lined road, Jeana walks the shoulder toward the camera in her yellow vest.
Distance walked
11 miles
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Sources

Local history and background reading for this stop.

  1. Jeana’s updates from the road — the Marrow Walk journal — checked Oct 22, 2026
The flyer: STOP BLOOD CANCER set in tall letters over a dark plum page, a quote, and a QR code beside a text-to-join line for the U.S.One standing face of the table tent: the same headline and quote on the left, a large QR code on the right.

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A coffee counter, a church foyer, a break room, a race table. Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk, and a number to text for anyone who would rather not scan — no app, no wifi, nothing to hand back.Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk — nothing to install, nothing to hand back. The number to text printed beside it is for joining NMDP, which registers people who live in the U.S., its territories and the freely associated states. If you live anywhere else, find your country’s registry.

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